March's Wine of the Month - Chateau Sainte-Marie Petite Marie Blanc

I’m sitting here writing about Wine of the Month for March while it is raining and cold on a mid-February afternoon. Stuck between wanting to offer something cozy or throat and belly warming or move us into Spring with the most delightful little crisp, energetic white Bordeaux we all just tasted. I opted to tug on a sweater, scrunch up the sleeves and project myself into a brisk, sun-kissed Spring afternoon by revisiting my glass of lovely white Bordeaux from the region of Entre Deux Mers. Whole team was onboard too. 

Many of you have been drinking the wines from Chateau Sainte Marie for nearly three decades. Both the refreshing white from Entre-Deux-Mers or the juicy little Merlot based Bordeaux Superieur. We know this because week in, week out, we come in to find the cases I had ordered two weeks before were already gone. We’ve featured them in a multitude of tasting events, and one of the other of those may have been a Wine of the Month at some point over the years. They always over deliver for the price, (both under $20 at the time) and the only time we don’t have them is if the importer is out, or my goofy ass forgot to order it that week. The latter I never wish to do because your “Bummer!” faces you give when you look at empty racks or one of us must tell you that we are currently out of stock. 

So, imagine how elated we were to see that there was a new wine being offered by Chateau Sainte-Marie for us to taste. See, this one is sort of thrilling for us too. Stephane Dupuch is at the helm of the estate and not only believes in organic farming, he stands hard again over mechanization and instead plants his vines denser with lower yields so that their wines have more impact, character and expression. He’s not wrong and this new little number, the Petite Marie gives you all that integrity, but with a little flirty, come play with me everyday kinda vibe, and we are rolling the dice and ready to play. Made from 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Colombard, you get all that bright, vibrating green freshness but with a bump of fresh sliced melon and tropical citrus. Light but hardly thin on the palate. In fact there is a nice bit of plump fruit and weight but the finish is lifted and teasing you to come back. Challenging you to not devour the bottle in under an hour. I know I will be buying this one by the case for my Spring and Summer sipping, I highly suggest you do the same. Especially if you are French Sauvignon Blanc lover, not going to be seeing much Sancerre soon, and what will be here, the prices are really going up. So, gobble up as much of this as you can get.